Antivirus
by FantasRosE
Summary: Four agents. James, Kyle, Edana and Amaya. One underground organisation. One complicated system of networks. And one government hangs completely in the performance of these four KIDS.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: I do NOT own CHERUB or the characters. The things I do own are my OCs and the plot.**

**I apologise if there are any grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Feel free to leave a review. CC will be gratefully accepted.**

**Hopefully, if everything goes smoothly, this story will be extremely long. (Perhaps the length of a short novel.)**

Prologue

Edana's POV

I began tapping my foot. The atmosphere in the room was unpleasant, at best. My fraternal sister couldn't stop fidgeting. It was eerily quiet and none of the other kids would talk to us. They only replied, 'Can't talk to orange,' every time we approached them. I had noticed my sister and I had been wearing orange shirts since our arrival, but what could it mean?  
>Amaya suddenly asked a question that had been on both of our minds for a while. "Why are we here?"<p>

I simply shrugged. What were we doing here anyway? The building's weird, the people in colour-coded shirts are weird, the 'tests' are weird. Even the man called Mac's weird, however nice he is. But at the very least, we're free of that wretched orphanage.

Our parents died coming home from a business meeting overseas. We were then sent to London from Australia to live with our great-aunt. Unfortunately, only months later, she died of a heart attack. I may be evil thinking this way, but I'm glad I didn't know her well when she died. I didn't have to miss her and grieve as I did for Mum and Dad.

It has been two years since the plane crash. Every time I thought of that day, my heart stiffened with a stab of hurt. No matter how many times I recall the memory. When I was young, I noticed that if you say a word over and over, quickly enough, the word would lose all its meaning. For two years I have attempted, saying the word _parent_ over and over every night, so that I may forget them. But every night I would fall asleep with the same repetitive failure.

The door clicked open.

In my peripheral vision I could see Mac walking over. He sat down in front of us and I lifted my head brusquely in nervous anticipation. Was I going to be separated from Amaya? The man smiled warmly at us.

"I'd like to firstly congratulate you on passing the tests and becoming a member of CHERUB. You current age is eleven and basic training starts in two months. Perfect timing."

Amaya's eyes widened as she wondered what 'basic training' was. My eyebrows arched up in pessimistic confusion.

"And what exactly, is this basic training?" I asked.

"One hundred days of training to make you the most elite of spies. Mark my word, it isn't easy." Mac gave a low chuckle. "But, you two are surely capable enough to get through."

I turned to my sister but was granted with a look of blankness spreading across her face.

_What the hell is going on?_


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I do NOT own CHERUB or the characters. The things I do own are my OCs and the plot.**

**I apologise if there are any grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Feel free to leave a review. CC will be gratefully accepted.**

Chapter 1

Edana's POV

_Somebody chuck me a weapon. Please?_

I cursed under my breath as the instructor forced me into the ring for a match against Bruce. Not that my hand-to-hand combat is that bad. But my first day at CHERUB campus started off with a combat test against Bruce. It... didn't really turn out that well.

_The doors opened to a large dojo. Someone was standing in the middle of the building, as if waiting for an opponent. Mac told me to go in and fight the boy, who appeared to be one or two years older than me._

_Silently, I dragged myself to face him. He introduced himself as Bruce Norris. Mac explained the rules for the fight. I grimaced as I imagined how capable and deadly this boy could be. Before I could snatch my mind back from my inner trance, Bruce ran at me._

_I side-stepped a bit too late. He crashed into my shoulder and I stumbled from the shock. Instantly turning around, he ran at me again. I tried to remember the martial arts training I had when I was young. But it was two years ago. Now how do you paralyse again?_

_As he lifted his arm to strike, I slid under it and faced his back. Using my fingers, I hit a few simple pressure points I had learnt. I grimaced as he fell to the floor._

_After fixing him up, Bruce was on his feet again ready for the next round. I had lost my surprise card, and this was it. The next two rounds finished within the minute. Of course, Bruce won._

_More like Bruce Lee._

I made a sound to indicate that I was sulking. The instructor glared at me. I gave a sigh and turned towards my competition. The fight had only gone for one minute when the doors burst open.

"Edana, mission briefing," Amaya said, just loud enough to be heard above the din.

"Woot!" I yelled at the top of my voice. I made a face at Bruce; poking my tongue out and scrunching up my face. Running out at full speed, I almost tripped over.

Walking in step with Amaya, I queried, "Who else is on the mission?"

"I don't know yet. I think James Adams and his mate Kyle Blueman are coming along," she answered.

I felt all my excitement drain away at the thought of our likely companions. I stared at the sky in utter disbelief. _It had to be James._

Once inside the building, we walked down the corridor together until we arrived at Zara's room. Amaya, made a move to knock on the door but I charged in without a moment's hesitation.

Zara looked at me with a frown of disapproval. "Sorry, I won't do that next time," I said.

"That's what you said last time, and the time before that, and before that," Zara said. She gestured to two empty seats next to two occupied seats. I glanced at the company and winced.

_It was James and Kyle._

**Thanks minty97, but I live in Australia too so don't worry. Though my life may be a bit different, so please tolerate the differences. XD**


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I do NOT own CHERUB or the characters. The things I do own are my OCs and the plot.**

**I apologise if there are any grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Feel free to leave a review. CC will be gratefully accepted.**

Chapter 2

Amaya strolled over casually to her seat and sat down, adjusting herself to a comfortable position. I inched cautiously over, looking at the back of James' head as if the snakes of Medusa's would pop out any second now. Eventually, I leaned back into my allocated seat.

Kyle turned around and greeted me with a sharp wave of his hand. I showed my acknowledgement of his existence with a quick nod. Kyle and I are close friends, despite our age difference. He was almost eighteen while I was just turning thirteen in a month.

James on the other hand, was a different story. Mixing us was like trying to mix oil and water. The best solution to the problem is to draw a straight line in the middle. The oil doesn't cross the line, and neither does the water. And I definitely wouldn't say that James likes me either. Far from it. It takes a lot of work to keep us from the other's throats.

It's been quite a while since I had a mission briefing and life has been unbearably bleak and quiet. It seems only reasonable that I am so excited to go on another when I heard about it. Now that James is in on it... I'm not so sure. Then again, why let such a worry bother me? I might as well spend my time enjoying the thrill of a mission, even if it is an extremely boring one.

I turned my attention to Zara giving her my most enthusiastic-serious look manageable with James two seats away from me. _Stop it Edana. You said you wouldn't let him take away your thrill. Take your mind off the annoying idiot._

"It's nice to see you again, Amaya and Edana. It's been quite a while hasn't it?" Zara sighed as if this meeting were more of a nuisance than the pleasure she was talking about.

_You are so paranoid, _a part of my mind complained to me. _Worry too much of what people think of you, _it sighed. I brushed the light voice away, always carefully trying to ignore the mental arguments it had with me.

I stared blankly at the arm of the chair, resting back from all the tension that curled in my stomach every time I came in for a mission briefing. This time, however, the ripple of disruption was a wave of terror, waiting in anticipation for the tsunami. The room around me however, was calm. My turmoil of fear was probably a stupid assumption, I decided.

Although I couldn't quite rein in my expanding anxiousness, I kept the relaxed and cool exterior of the Edana everyone knew. Everyone else was so calm; couldn't they feel any terror coming at all?

Endless questions of the mission trampled my inner fear. Where were we going to this time? How long are we going for? What is the mission? I did my best to nourish my questions with all the possibilities I could think of. Zara interrupted me as she began talking again.

"So your mission controller will be John. You sisters will remain as sisters. James and Kyle, you will be adoptive sons. James, Edana, I want you to actually _co-operate_ on this. This mission has to be a success or the consequences will be disastrous."

I glanced over at James who was rolling his eyes in an exaggerated way. I scrunched my face in distaste of the teenager. There is a perfectly good reason why Zara herself, would have to order us to work together. The last time we were told to work together, didn't exactly end that well.

"_Since you both have so much time to muck around, you can go fix that fence over there then," Meryl yelled._

_She shoved a tool box into my arms and pointed in the direction of the broken fence. It was pouring, completely pouring. The guy next to me was saying something and made a face at Meryl when she turned her back to get another tool box. After we were 'equipped' for our job –obviously not talking about equipped for the weather –she opened the door and kicked us out._

_I'm not exaggerating. She literally kicked us out. And me, not expecting anything of the sort, scraped my elbow as I used it stop myself from falling face first into the ground. I picked myself of the ground, gripping the box tightly. The rain poured down on the two of us with no sign of mercy whatsoever. Mustering the spirit and strength, I raised the box over my head and rested it just at the top of my forehead, so I could see without rain pelting my eyes._

_The boy –or as I later found out, James –ran straight in the direction of the fence without any hesitation. I could hear him swearing beneath his breath. What he was cursing, I couldn't pick up. But it was either, the fence, the rain, or Meryl. Personally, I was cursing the fence._

_I ran to catch up with him, not gaining any ground since I wasn't much of a runner myself. But at least, I wasn't too far behind. We reached the fence after a few minutes. And, you wouldn't believe it. The fence was wooden._

"_Who the hell uses a wooden fence like this? There's something called metal," James muttered in rage. _

_I placed my box down on the floor and opened it up. Hammers, nails... Is that it? How convenient of Meryl. I ripped open the bag of small nails and surveyed the damage as I weighed each of the three individual hammers. A bunch of the wooden planks had fallen, but that was about it. It would take at most an hour if both of us worked well enough._

_I picked up the hammer that was middle in size. Taking a few of the nails and the hammer, I dragged my feet through the dense wet grass to the broken boards. Stuffing the nails into my right pocket, I bent down to pick up a board BASHED my head against something. Completely BASHED it against something._

_Something that started cursing and yelling. After a short recovery from the dizziness that overwhelmed me, I took a look at what I ran into. James. Right... no wonder it started cursing._

"_I'm so sorry. Oh my god. Does your head hurt too much or anything? I didn't see you coming 'cause of the weather and I wa—," I stuttered, before I was interrupted –by pure rage._

"_What the shit is your problem? I don't care if it's fucking raining! You should have checked where the hell you were!" I lost the rest of his rant as I tried to refocus to gripping the hammer so it doesn't fall on my foot._

_In a blur, a fist swung at my head. I lifted the hammer in my hand to block it, whacking the arm with the hammer. An anguished cry followed, backed up by a lunge. James the bloody idiot just has to fight right now out of all times. I yelled in anger, screaming and threatening._

_A fight instantly broke out. I was at a huge disadvantage because of my size, but my strength was just enough to stop him from killing me. We must have been sprawling around in the dirt, making a huge, noticeable racket, because Meryl ran out and dragged me away._

_Obviously, the rumour mill was extremely pleased with what happened, each story more exaggerated than the last._

I grimaced as I thought of what would happen if that event happened again on an actual mission.

**For anyone who likes Maximum Ride, please check out my fanfic MIDNIGHT SUN. **

**Co-written with a great author. Read if you have interest.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I do NOT own CHERUB or the characters. The things I do own are my OCs and the plot.**

**I apologise if there are any grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Feel free to leave a review. CC will be gratefully accepted.**

Chapter 3

**MISSION BRIEFING**

**FOR JAMES ADAMS, KYLE BLUEMAN, EDANA LY & AMAYA LY**

**DO ****NOT**** REMOVE FROM CAMPUS**

**DO ****NOT**** COPY THIS DOCUMENT OR MAKE NOTES**

**The Intruders**

The Intruders are a secret, underground organisation of highly specialised hackers found in Australia. They originally started in 2005 as a small group of hackers who nurtured their lust for Internet trouble by hacking into several accounts and computers. Progressing further in midst 2006, The Intruders moved onto larger websites and shutting them down permanently.

However, one year later, an idea of 'future prosperity' fell into their minds. They claimed that they will 'rid' the world of tyranny. This will start by taking down the larger governments of the world.

The Intruders are estimated to be made up of fifty people. In the present, it is deemed hard to join them as they already have enough members and are reluctant to reveal anything of themselves to outsiders.

**Drew Crager**

Drew Crager is the leader of The Intruders. He started the group after collecting a few hackers together. Eventually, more people joined, making The Intruders a larger organisation. Drew is extremely experienced with gadgets of almost any sort, as his family had once owned a large computer store.

**Their Plan**

The Intruders are planning to hack into the Australian Government only three months from now. The scary thing is, they are most capable of doing it. Once they hack into the Government system, they will delete every piece of information recorded.

This will include taxes, information on all citizens, companies and projects. All debts and profits will also be wiped, any claim of alliance with other countries and laws.

An action of this scale will leave Australia –as an entire country –confused and it is most likely havoc and chaos will follow not long afterwards.

This must be prevented.

**Your Mission**

Leaving in one week, the agents of this mission will have three months to infiltrate the underground system and hack into The Intruder's computers. At the very least, this will postpone their intentions for a long time to come.

The first step is to become acquainted with the children of Drew Crager, by attending the school in Canberra. The agents must get the Crager's to trust them.

In whatever ways, they must find out the location of The Intruders. Once the location is found, a report is to be sent back to CHERUB for further planning.

The situation then splits into two possible roads:

The agents return to CHERUB and end the mission. It will be taken over by older agents outside of CHERUB.

The agents continue the mission and hack into the system after CHERUB gives the clear.

The second part to the mission is much more serious and dangerous. The Intruders are certainly armed, and infiltrating their headquarters is like infiltrating an army base, though there are few people in this particular base.

If CHERUB does give the all-clear for the agents to continue this mission, it is highly necessary that we remind you that all agents participating in the first half of the mission have the right to reject the second part.

**Arlean Crager**

The fourteen year old daughter of Drew Crager. Her personality is extroverted, a typical party-goer and your typical image of a modern day girl. We're talking make-up and boys kind of girl. She is close to her father and the rest of her family.

**Andrew Crager**

The older brother of Arlean, a rebellious sixteen year old student. Andrew tends to muck around big-time and causes a lot of trouble in the school yard.

**David Crager**

An eighteen year old and the oldest child of Drew Crager. David is suspected of having followed his father's steps as a hacker and will most likely be the leader of The Intruders if anything happens to Drew.

**Note:**

THIS MISSION WAS ACCEPTED BY THE CHERUB ETHICS COMMITEE, ON CONDITION THAT JAMES ADAMS, KYLE BLUEMAN, EDANA LY AND AMAYA LY UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING:

This mission has been classified as MEDIUM RISK. The Agents are reminded of their rights to refuse to undertake this mission and to withdraw from it at any time.

THE MISSION'S SECOND PART:

This mission has been classified as HIGH RISK. The Agents who are participating are reminded of their rights to refuse to undertake this mission and to with draw from it at any time.

After my first read, I quickly scanned over the entire document one more time just to make sure I hadn't imagined what I had read. How could they hand such an important mission to Amaya or me? We haven't reached the rank of black shirt yet. Actually, we only got our navy shirts a few months ago.

James and Kyle, I understand. Dismissing the point of what a complete ass James was, he was quite a capable agent. So was Kyle when he wanted to be one.

"Edana. Worried? Don't be. We chose you for a reason. If you weren't suitable for this mission, would you be here for the briefing?" Zara tried to soothe the hurricane that disturbed my mind.

"Still... what could that reason be? Cocky as I am," I smirked lightly at the idea of admitting it, "am I really a choice for it?"

"It's hard to explain. But the fastest way to get a teenage girl to trust anyone is to throw you into the situation so you can be her friend." This to Zara seemed like an inside joke. She began smiling broadly, while the four of us sitting opposite her were completely lost. "Amaya, is also extremely important, even if her part in the first half of the mission is not as elaborate. However, if CHERUB does decide to continue, I do not doubt the fact that Amaya will be a wonderful recruit. Your ability with technology is astounding."

James let out a mighty cough, more out of sarcasm –and with a touch of irony –than out of being plain sick.

"Two days. I would like a reply before that due date," Zara smiled casually.

"No need to wait for my reply. I'm in for sure," I barked. I stood up, and did a rather mocking salute.


	5. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: I do NOT own CHERUB or the characters. The things I do own are my OCs and the plot.**

**I apologise if there are any grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Feel free to leave a review. CC will be gratefully accepted.**

Chapter 4

Business class in a plane was really business class. It's so many times better than your average economy. Economy is so drab, uncomfortable, packed, tight, boring, stiff... need I go on? Of course I don't need to. Because we all dream of going into business class once, especially if you know you don't have enough money to pay for it in the first place.

Anyway, we were in business class, because we're plain cool like that, and all was great and quiet for a while. Until the four of us kids decided to muck around big time and cause some trouble. I won't say that John didn't try to calm us down. He did. He honestly tried very, very hard.

Sometimes effort is everything. And this was one of those times. One moment John was trying to get me to stop banging on the touch screen in front of me. Another moment later he would be telling James off for pouring Coke all over Kyle's shirt. After that, he would be trying to calm down Kyle who was threatening to kill James because he ruined one of his white shirts. I think the shirt was new too. Like three days old new. He bought it with his birthday money or something.

Then John would start from the very beginning of the cycle. Except that every time he got back to one of us it would be a completely different issue and matter. The only person who was not wrecking havoc and chaos was Amaya. Quiet Amaya, sitting in her own chair and just listening to her music. I think John had never been so grateful for something in his life before. It gave him about three minutes between each cycle. That was extremely nice of her.

The waitress came around and asked us what we would like for lunch. Amaya was sitting there and just pointed to something on the menu, nodded her thanks and went back to her music. I tried to appear civilised. I sat quietly in my seat, chose a meal and waited until the waitress had passed me before I gave James and Kyle the middle finger.

They shot me an electrified glare united by their similar annoyance at my action and chose their lunch. From the corner of my eye I could see John trying not to explode and get out of his seat over to me to tell me off again.

I sank back into my seat, relaxing and plugging my earphones into my ears and chose a random song. I set it to a certain playlist of mine and hit shuffle just for the sake of it. I was nodding off when someone ripped my earphones out of my ears.

In James' hands were my earphones. My ears seemed to ring with the hideous tinge of pain from the abrupt and rough tug. I glared at him and held my palm out so he could hand them back.

But why would he right? Of course not. Obviously, the best thing to do in such a situation was to dunk my earphones into my glass of Coke. I couldn't agree less. I would have done the exact same thing. And then expected to get my head flushed down the toilet. Then again, James wouldn't expect that from me. No, John would stop me like he stopped Kyle because John is a pure genius like that with a silver tongue.

_Wrong._

John may calm me down if James tipped Coke over my shirt. But _not my earphones._ I worship music to no end, even if I appear to muck around more than listen to my music quietly.

When I spoke, my voice was soft, like the blunt edge of a piece of glass worn down by the sea. But sure as hell this piece of glass could still slit someone's throat. "Great. Now my earphones are ruined. I'll never be able to get another one in my lifetime, you know? So, for that, _you_ are going to pay."

At the strained _'you'_ I picked up the glass of Coke and tipped it straight onto James' head.

He wasn't happy. You could tell quite easily. You'd have to be a huge moron not to see it.

A complete huge stone-headed moron. Someone could have dropped you off a cliff and you wouldn't have known what happened until you hit the ground below. Actually, you'd have to be _such _a _huge_ moron you wouldn't know that you've died anyway.

That's the type of moron you'd have to be _not _to realise James was pissed.

The moment I slammed the glass back down, he grabbed me by the collar and pretty much lifted me up. Everyone had turned to see what was going on. Most of them were business men and women of higher class than your average person. A handful were young teenagers, probably the children of these business class people. The rest... were really old ladies whose expressions told me they had never seen violence in their ancient lives. It definitely looked that way in the least.

John had bolted out of his seat the moment James had ripped my earphones out. It was totally clear trouble was going to erupt. In the short time all that had happened, John was still trying to cross over to us. Everything really happened in a short time.

When John managed to get to us, he gripped James hands until his knuckles were white. Then he whispered something secretly into James' ear. Whatever it was, it was enough to calm him down. For a while at least. I'm safe for another few hours. Then it will get very messy.

I slumped back into my seat, still fuming with poisonous gases like a volcano. John crouched down with a meaningful silence and gave me a look. I avoided his eyes.

"Keep it down. I've always been lenient, but that was way overboard. I don't really want to cancel a mission that hasn't started. Especially this one. Since it is guaranteed to be successful."

**Thank you for reading up to this point. Please leave a review or anything. Criticism is welcome. XD!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I do NOT own CHERUB or the characters. The things I do own are my OCs and the plot.**

**I apologise if there are any grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Feel free to leave a review. CC will be gratefully accepted.**

Chapter 5

We had arrived about half an hour ago. Damn, airport security was tight. No joke. Seriously tight issues. They had kept us in the moment we went to get our luggage. Like they had X-ray vision that allowed them to see what was inside our suitcases. I assure you, we had nothing worth the trouble.

People would assume that undercover spies would carry their gear everywhere. Such as all those little pieces of tracking devices and listening devices. And maybe they do. But sure as hell we didn't.

All our equipment was to come straight from Australia. Or the equipment from CHERUB would be specially shipped over for us to collect. No bloody idiot would just put items like those in their suitcases. Well, you have to admit, there are some pretty weird people out there who think they can get away with it. This is Australian security we're talking about.

So anyway, we were waiting in this room. Our suitcases were in the corner and being checked thoroughly. John was waiting patiently. Amaya was listening to her music. I couldn't listen to my music because of my wrecked earphones. Kyle was still complaining about his shirt. James had been glaring at me the whole entire time. It was starting to freak me out.

Suddenly, the sunlight outside disappeared by a fraction and rain began drizzling down onto the glass. James, who finally ripped his eyes away from me, Kyle and John all turned their heads to look out. Their faces told Amaya and me they thought the weather in Australia was crazy.

"Does this happen all the time?" Kyle asked, shocked.

"Not all the time. But you should see Melbourne. When we lived there, the city had a name that we used a lot. _The city that went through four seasons in one day._ And it was one hundred percent true too," Amaya muttered.

That was about the longest statement she had made since we left the airport way too many hours ago. She was still listening to her music though. James should try ripping _hers_ out of _her_ ears. That would probably end up being the most gruelling fight you'll ever see in your life. I'm being dead serious about this.

It might just be better than a fight between me and James. That is not easy to beat, in my opinion. I'm crazy. I like violence. Seriously crazy.

"What is this?" A security man held up an object. Probably something found inside one of our suitcases. It couldn't have anything to do with me.

I looked again. It was _mine._ "It's mine," I answered, waving my hand around lightly.

"You didn't answer me. What is this?"

"That... is called... a... Okay then. I don't know what it's called. But I _do_ know what it does. It—"

"What is it called?"

"Hey John. Do you know what that thing is called again?" I was really stuck. It was for tuning your guitar. But of course the man would cut me off before I could even start to explain.

"I... forgot." Gee, thankyou John.

"Well, it's meant to tune your guitar. I swear, that's what it's for," I was trying not to snap. It wasn't working too.

"And why don't I see this guitar?" He was persistent. He was _annoying._ What has happened to Australia?

"I went on a trip... like three months ago. I brought the guitar with me so I put that in as well. I guess that when I was packing I forgot to take it out. I wasn't going to bring a guitar with me for this trip." It wasn't really a lie. It was because of that reason. But the trip was more like a year ago.

"Do you really expect me to believe you when you say something stupid like that? How could you not notice something this big inside your suitcase?"

"I don't really pay attention to what I pack," I snapped. That was true. I didn't pay attention at all. Why would I? Seriously, we are going to be loaded over here. I can buy whatever I need over here, so why pack?

"Where's your mother? You have one for a reason. Or let me guess, she's in Australia so she couldn't help you pack?"

_Overboard._

"Wow. Maybe I don't _have_ a mum anymore? Does that make you feel any better? No wait, don't answer. You wouldn't believe me anyway." Raging and ranting was usually so much fun. But in these circumstances, raging was a kind of therapy. A very serious kind of essential therapy.

"Well now I'm stuck with my only my sister and father. Sure as hell it's enough but I still miss my mother. And look at these two bludgin' idiots. They ain't even related to me by blood and yet my own father cares for them just as much as he cares for me or my sister!"

If I was going to rage at this guy, no need to break our cover right? I could see John warning me with a glare until he heard my latest lines and calmed down. And I was kind of getting my accent back even though I've only returned. Yada yada, not an Australian accent. Whatever. It's my accent I used when I was in Australia. I was seven when I developed it. I lost it to blend better on campus.

After all, I was known on campus for three things. Deceiving, acting and lying. I could rage and lie at the same time without a flaw. If you ever have a mission where you needed someone extremely convincing, you know where to find the perfect person.

Me.

"Yeh, I'm talkin' to you James, you dickhead!"

Oh no... _Wrong _person_._

"What did you just call me?"

He stood up from the couch and shoved me halfway across the room. Damn, this guy was strong. But he was older than me by a lot. Unfair competition.

I hate that.

BOUNCE-BACK!


	7. Chapter 6

"Wake up... It's Monday you idiot!" Someone whacked a pillow into my face.

I sat up straight and hummed some of the tune of 'Jetlag' by Simple Plan. "So Jetlag... Ohhhh!"

Now the pillow was thrown at my face, just for good measure. But it's still reality. We're all dead because of jetlag. Once I remembered where I was, I asked, "Amaya, what time is it?"

"It's eight. Now get up." She was dressed and prepared.

"_What?_" I was shocked. School starts at 8:40. "Where's John?"

"Downstairs eating breakfast. You'd better hurry up or else you're going to miss a meal. And you better make your own lunch as well." The horrible, blunt truth of having no food until dinner.

Uniform. Where would that be? I ran barefoot to the closet and picked out a new school dress. It was a checker navy blue with a white collar. After five minutes full of chaos and rushing, I was ready to go down to the kitchen.

As I came skidding around the corner into the kitchen, Kyle laughed. "Someone's a bit late."

I turned and gave him the popular 'I'm watching you' gesture. I ran to the table and made two sandwiches from ham, cheese and lettuce. I hunted around in the pantry for a packet of chips and found one that was original flavour. I grimaced. I put it back into the cupboard and began packing my bag with items.

It was soon loaded with shiny textbooks, workbooks, my pencil case and lunch. As I looked up, they began coming in and piling their plates and cutlery into the sink. I sprinted out to the front door and pulled on the new leather shoes which hurt the back of my ankles with its stiffness.

Doing up the laces with unsteady fingers, I checked to see if everybody else was done yet. My watch said it was 8:14. We had to walk to school, which would take about 25 minutes at an average walking pace, according to John.

I stood up and leaned against the wall, bag next to my feet, to wait for them. In a short moment we were out the door with John reminding us to 'make more friends'. With certain assigned people, I added in my mind.

I took out the second sandwich and started eating as we travelled. James and Kyle were about five metres in front of us. Amaya poked me in the ribs and chuckled as I ate breakfast. I frowned. I hate school. Especially if you come in almost halfway through the year.

We received stares when we entered the locker room. The two boys had split up with us at the front gates; older students were separated from the juniors, which were Year 7 to Year 9, although we can meet up during our breaks.

We walked around until we came to lockers numbered 89 and 90. We focused on each other. "Who's getting bottom locker?" I asked. Bottom locker is horrible; people are constantly dropping their locks onto your heads, or hardcover textbooks and atlases. And you have to crouch down to get your stuff so your legs can get really sore if you stay for too long. How do I know this? Common sense.

She thought for a moment. "Rock, paper, scissors," she challenged. "First to three," she added.

It was a quick game. I lost all three. She patted my back in fake sympathy and started filling up her top locker with the books needed. I sighed. When everything was inside and fairly neat, we decided to go to the office to collect our diaries and timetables.

But a quick glance told us that we were as good as lost. I approached a tall boy and asked for directions to the office. He smiled broadly. "You're new, aren't you? Well did you walk by the library when you came in? It's the one with the huge painting of a cave outside? Yeah, you know that. Just turn left and follow the path through the playground."

"Thanks," I said politely. I turned to go but he stopped me.

"What your name? I'm Will, a Year 8. You?"

I scowled. "It's the Year 8 locker rooms. How old are you? Three?" I rolled my eyes and left, leaving him stunned.

Soon we had our information and we raced back to the lockers to get ready for the next two sessions. Which were Science and English. Luckily, we had the same home room and therefore we were also together in many of our subjects.

"You can go first, since you have bottom locker," she mocked. I groaned. When the bell rang, the two of us were wandering down a hallway with all the E rooms on the right side side and the M rooms on the left side. We entered a room with E2 printed boldly on it.

"Hello? Uh... is this the home room for class 8B?" My voice shook as two dozen heads turned in our direction. I gave a meek wave to everyone; we shouldn't have some in so late.

The teacher, a middle aged man with short brown hair and glasses smiled. "Well. Amaya and Edana? Which is which?"

Amaya raised her hand and announced, "Amaya." Then she pointed at me and proclaimed, "Edana." She also said that we were 'sisters. Twins, in fact,' when he asked whether we were related or not.

We found a vacant table with two seats and we sat down. As the teacher, Mr. A as we could call him, read from something called The Bulletin, we were busy making petty assumptions of our classmates. There were some who looked like nerds with a novel wedged in between their textbooks, there was the popular group who had gelled hair and hints of makeup on their face (the girls did anyway), rebels and the outcasts.

The popular group was the easiest to distinguish because they were all crowded in the corner, whispering, giggling or just mucking around. It was as if the class was separated into two different worlds.

For the fifth time that day, I had to introduce myself to the class. Up to this point, I had not met anyone by the name of Arlean. The Maths teacher began calling out the names of the attendance roll.

"Cathy. Phillip. Daisy. Arlean." My head flicked up, following the voice of a young girl who yelled out 'Here!' She had chocolate brown hair and wide gray eyes.

We found her, I sent in a grin to my sister. The only response I got was a blink. I could now begin my job of befriending Arlean Crager. What kind of last name is Crager? It's one I've never thought I'd hear. I wonder how James and Kyle are going with finding the other two children of Drew.


End file.
